Counterfeit notes to the value of Rs 6 million in circulaton:

Biggest forged notes racket bared

by Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana

Governor Central Bank Ajith Nivard Cabraal and President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the launch of the Rs.2,000 note in 2006.

Forging money or exchanging counterfeit has been a serious issue in Sri Lanka from time to time. Recently forged notes printed in various denominations for the value of hundreds and thousands of Rupees were seized by the law enforcing authorities from different parts of the country along with numerous persons responsible for either possessing or printing them. Constant awareness programs were conducted by the competent authorities like the Central Bank to educate the public about this crisis.

However this turned out to be a grave problem that opened many eyes when the police apprehended a person who had forged money worth millions of Rupees of which a considerable portion had already been entered into the local currency market.

Officers of Counterfeit Currency Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department after weeks of gathering information raided a temporary makeshift house in Kekunagahawatte Road in Pothuarawa, Malabe last Sunday and arrested the mastermind behind the biggest racket of producing forged notes in the country's history. Dimuthu Nuwan Kumara who was engaged in printing fake notes even at the time of the raid managed to give police the slip in the first place but was taken into custody by the CID sleuths after a couple of hours search while he was hiding in the same area.

With the information sought from the suspect the CID took another person into custody namely Allan Premi Pradeep Palingumuni on the same day who had allegedly assisted the chief suspect in his endeavours.

A third person linked to the same case identified as Anura Senaratne was also arrested by the police last Tuesday. Two more suspects who have reportedly aided and abetted the top dog are presently absconding. The three suspects were produced before Kaduwela Magistrate and remanded until November 7.

Following the detection the CID seized fully printed fake Rs.2,000 notes, some printed only on one side, some only printed with the watermark and some only with the security thread. The total worth of these fully and semi printed notes were estimated to be over Rs.seven million. All the notes were printed with the serial number of P67 799159 which was later announced by the Central Bank as a fake number and that there cannot be a genuinely printed Rs.2,000 note with that serial number.

The police also seized a range of electronic items including computers, scanners, printers, cartridges of expensive inks, printing paper and fake National Identity Cards from the chief suspect's hideout.

Initial investigations conducted by the CID revealed that the chief suspect had been arrested for the same offence of producing counterfeit on two earlier occasions as well.

A mathematics tutor by profession with an excellent knowledge in the field of IT and printing, the chief suspect was first arrested in 2006 and was remanded for several months. He was then released on bail. Dimuthu Nuwan was again arrested for the same offence a few years back and had managed to free himself spending a couple of years in prison. He had reportedly bought all the gear needed for the forgery with his own money.

It is learnt that although he masterminded the major part of the fraudulent business by printing the fake notes he never went out to exchange them. The four other suspects had been working as accomplices who would take the forged notes to the market to exchange them into actual money or perhaps buy goods.

Their strategy was to target a specific crowd to exchange these fake money so that it would not be noticed. In shops or boutiques where elderly people or younger generation who serve on the till or cashier had been picked up by this gang who would go and buy a snack or a drink or phone top ups for a lesser amount. When the goods are served they would pay it with fake Rs.2,000 notes. Sometimes, if the suspect bought a cold drink worth Rs.50 he would ask for only Rs.1,900 in return, not wanting the cashier to give away all his change.

A Rs.2,000 note held against the light to show the Heraldic Lion watermark

Investigations revealed that the gang had operated in the areas of Malabe, Kaduwela, Rajagiriya and Kotte. Likewise the suspects had exchanged at least Rs.20,000 fake notes into real money per day during the past month which could be a staggering Rs.6 million worth of counterfeit believed to be circulating in the currency market at present.

This is proved right with four cases of possession of forged notes reported from Beruwala, Yakkalamulla, Ja Ela and Puttalam following the major detection. A fake Rs.2,000 note was among a sum of money that was to be deposited by a customer at the Bank of Ceylon branch in Beruwala. A resident of Yakkalamulla handed over a Rs.2,000 note to the police whereas in JaEla and in Puttalam also fake notes were found among the sums of money being deposited in banks.

According to Police Media Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana there had been an increase in the counterfeit possession and printing cases. In 2013 only from January to date 141 counterfeit cases had been reported. Out of this 13 had been counterfeit printing cases whereas the rest were possessions. According to police statistics 276 forged notes of Rs.5,000, 320 notes of Rs.2,000, 1625 notes of fake Rs.1,000,555 notes of Rs.500, one Rs.200 note, 19 notes of Rs.100, nine notes of Rs.50 and one Rs.20 note were detected throughout the year excluding the latest detection. Most of the instances of printing counterfeit had been reported from the Western Province whilst the possessions of forged notes were reported through out the country.

It indicates only one thing that whatever the fake currency being produced in the main province is being swiftly circulated around the country.

Designing, printing, possessing, circulating and exchanging counterfeit is a punishable offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, No. 5 of 2006. The police is currently engaged in informing the public to be vigilant about this specific fake Rs.2,000 note bearing the serial number P67 799159, and to hand over to the nearest police station if any are found.

The Central Bank had also been informed about the on going crisis and was requested to hold awareness programs to educate the public about it.

A senior officer attached to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka said they are presently working on organising awareness programs to inform the public especially about the security features of the actual Rs.2, 000 currency note which will eventually help recognise the forged one.

An advertising campaign is to be launched in near future to make the public familiarise with the security features of the currency notes and also adding emergency telephone lines of the CID and Police Department to complain any forgery reported.

Important security features

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka announced the most important security features of Rs.2,000 currency note which was introduced in 2006. The note has over 10 advance security features, some of it which could be witnessed by the naked eye. Additional technology is required to witness the rest.

The main security feature is the Heraldic Lion watermark which could be easily seen when the note is held against artificial light or direct sunlight. The Heraldic Lion is holding a sword which is highlighted than the entire watermark.

Secondly, the Star Chrome security thread can be witnessed which turns into different colours between red and green when the note is tilted according to the light.

Also one could notice the line printed on the thread “Rs.2,000 Sri Lanka” and an image of a butterfly in tiny letters on the security thread. The security thread was just a simple silver thread by the time the note was introduced but after the enhancement of security features in 2011 the colour changing effect was included.

This special feature is included in all the notes denominated above Rs.500.

Thirdly, one could notice diagonal bars at the four corners when the note is held against the light. Fourthly, the embossed lettering and printing can be felt by the fingertips. The special feature is called Intaglio Printing for raised print.

This is specially designed for the visually impaired customers who could identify the note by feeling it with the fingertips.

A security feature unique to the Rs.2,000 note is the golden iridescent band printed on the back of the note. It shows luminous colours that seem to change when seen from different angles. This is a very tough security feature that none of the fraudsters can forge.

The paper material used to print the modern currency notes in Sri Lanka is of special pulp whereas all the fake notes found were printed on mere A4 paper sheets. The pulp material has its distinctive feature when felt by the fingertips compared to the simple printing paper. Also if a genuine note is dipped in the water it would come with the print on it intact whereas the fake note would release its colours in the water.

Apart from these basic security features that can be witnessed by the naked eye there are several other security features that could be monitored only with special equipment such as Ultraviolet Money Detectors and microscopes. Tiny lettering marked on the note such as serial numbers and coding can only be monitored by microscopes whereas by using an Ultraviolet Money Detector, concealed colours can be seen under a florescent light.

All these features are accompanied by a unique serial number that can be only issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

The serial number differs from the printing batch from time to time. It is a standard of six digit number with a prefix, the senior officer said.

The on going CID investigations are being conducted by ASP Counterfeit Currency Unit P. Ampawila under the supervision of Director CID Gamini Mathurata and DIG CID Ravi Seneviratne.